100 



WILD SPAIN. 



At the present time the descendants of these camels live 

 and flourish in the marismas in a wholly wild state, and 

 since the sequestration of the Messrs. Barrera are practi- 

 cally ownerless. 



We have fallen in with them on several subsequent 

 occasions. On January 6th, 1888, we descried a herd of 

 nineteen, of various sizes, all dreamily ruminating, knee- 

 deep in the marisma, each form reflected in the still water 

 beneath. Our whole shooting-party (including seven or 

 eight Englishmen) enjoyed the sight, the herd remaining 

 in view during the half-hour we spent at lunch on the edge 

 of the marisma. With powerful field-glasses we brought 

 the camels close up, and watched them putting their heads 

 down as though grazing on the grasses beneath the sur- 

 face. Presently they moved on to a rushy islet some three 

 miles from the shore : hard by stood a rosy troop of 

 flamingoes, and the intervening waters were dotted with 

 numberless fleets of ducks and geese. It was a unique 

 spectacle, one that could hardly be matched outside this 

 out-of-the- world corner of Europe. 



In 1890, and again several times in the spring of 1891, 

 we fell in with camels. On March 5th we rode within 500 

 yards of eight, two of which were about the size of sheep. 

 In appearance they are very shaggy beasts, and vary much 

 in colour, some being of a light tawny hue, while others 

 are very dark brown, but all seem grey about the neck. 



On one of these occasions a curious incident occurred. 

 It was in December, 1890 — an intensely cold and dry 

 season, almost unprecedented in Spain for the severity of 

 the frost — when, in mid-marisma, leagues from water or 

 covert, and specially on the look-out for camels, a keen eye 

 detected in the far distance a roving fox. All dismounted, 

 and letting the horses graze, hid behind them and awaited 

 his approach. Then, with only a single podcnco, or hunt- 

 ing-dog, Frascuelo by name, and after a straight-away 

 chase of five or six miles at top-speed over a sun-dried 

 plain, bare and level as a billiard-table, we fairly rode bold 

 Eeynard down, and killed him. 



As evidence of the " staying powers " of the camel, our 



